Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton — 'The Cool of the Evening'

Carlo Pellegrini ('Ape') renders Lord Houghton — poet, Liberal politician, and celebrated literary host — as Statesmen No. 62, his portly figure swelled into gentle absurdity beneath a grey top hat. The caption, 'The cool of the evening,' is a knowing joke at the expense of a man then in his sixties whose social brilliance was judged to have peaked: a drawing-room lion grown comfortable with his own legend. Pellegrini's caricature exaggerates Houghton's jowly, self-satisfied face and substantial belly without malice; the cane and frock coat preserve the dignity of rank even as they emphasise his complacent ease. The crown device in the upper corner marks his peerage, a recent (1863) elevation that gave the old Whig bon vivant his final, comfortable role.